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By Gaia PianigianiTHE NEW YORK TIMES • Wednesday July 17, 2013 6:34 AM

ROME — He was the focus of Italians’ rage and embarrassment 18 months ago, when he was accused
of abandoning his ship after it ran aground and capsized off the Tuscan coast, killing 32
people.

Today, the cruise ship’s captain, Francesco Schettino, finally is to appear in a courtroom.

His trial on charges including manslaughter and causing the loss of his ship had to be moved
from the local courthouse to a theater in the Tuscan town of Grosseto to accommodate 70 or so
lawyers, more than 500 witnesses and some of the 4,200 survivors. There also will be space for 160
members of the public and 120 accredited journalists.

Schettino became infamous a few days after the wreck of his ship, the Costa Concordia, when a
recorded conversation surfaced that indicated he was standing on a rock next to the vessel before
the chaotic evacuation was complete.

His altercation with a port-authority official who tried to cajole him into getting back on
board and taking command of the evacuation was played over and over again on Italian news outlets
and websites. Schettino admitted that he was on the rock but said he was there because he had
fallen overboard.

Schettino, the only defendant in this trial, denies wrongdoing and has said that he took the
ship close to the shore only after the initial impact, a maneuver that he says saved many lives. If
found guilty, he could get 20 years in prison.

Five other defendants — a company official and four crew members — are accused of complicity in
the shipwreck and manslaughter, charges that carry potential prison terms of less than five years.
Their trials are to begin on Saturday.

In the meantime, patience is running out on the island of Giglio, where operations to remove the
54,000-ton vessel could be further delayed by Italian authorities.